The Black-necked Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) is one of Sweden's most threatened breeding birds and, in summer plumage, also one of its most striking waterbirds — about the size of a teal at 28–34 cm long. In breeding dress the head, neck and upperparts are velvety black, the flanks chestnut, and a fan-shaped, golden-yellow tuft of feathers spreads from behind each eye, itself glowing red. The bill is short and curves slightly upward, distinguishing the species from the straight-billed Red-necked Grebe. In winter plumage the golden tufts disappear and the bird turns grey and white, but the red eye and upturned bill remain as year-round marks.
The species breeds only sparingly in southern and central Sweden, at the northern edge of its range, with a national population of just 150–300 pairs that has earned it Endangered (EN) status on the Swedish red list. It favours shallow, nutrient-rich lakes and wetlands with abundant reed cover and plenty of water insects, arriving in April–May and departing again in September–October to winter around the Mediterranean. It nests in loose colonies of 5–30 pairs, often alongside Black-headed Gulls, whose presence offers some protection from predators, building a floating nest of vegetation anchored in the reeds; a pair lays 3–4 eggs, and the newly hatched chicks are carried on a parent's back for their first weeks. As an accomplished swimmer that rarely comes ashore, it dives skilfully for water insects, insect larvae, crustaceans and small fish in shallow, vegetation-rich water, with insects making up much of the diet during the breeding season when they are most abundant. Its call is a shrill, two-note "pu-iit" or "pe-wiit," repeated rapidly and heard best in the early mornings of May and June.
Read about this species in Swedish →